Abstract

Drawing on data generated from a research project that focuses on the livedexperiences of men who have experienced a spinal cord injury (SCI) throughplaying rugby football union, this chapter examines how a sense of coherenceis constructed within one persons’ life story. Narrative studies, as Seymour-Smith (2002) notes, have documented the importance to many individual’sidentities of presenting a coherent life story. Yet, the notion of coherence, ashibboleth in the field of narrative inquiry, is a contested issue. For example,Mishler (1999) argues that coherence, as a concept, is essentially andintractably ambiguous, defying efforts at formal and precise definition. Forhim, therefore, one way forward is to recognise the essential reflexivity ofcoherence and the manner in which this is a negotiated achievement among theparticipants involved in telling and listening to a story. Accordingly, one of theareas he ask researchers to direct their attention towards is the artful practicesthrough which storytellers do coherence, and the complex and differentiatedways stories can be organised to serve their meaning-making functions.

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Book Chapter

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